How to map content properly in web.xml for a Spring application?

Question

My web.xml contains

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" version="2.5">
  <context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/root-context.xml</param-value>
  </context-param>
  <listener>
    <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
  </listener>
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>appServlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
      <param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/appServlet/servlet-context.xml</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>appServlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>

  <welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>
      resources/index.html
    </welcome-file>
  </welcome-file-list>
</web-app>

The resources/index.html references to other static resources like images, js, css etc. stored in resoruces directory by relative paths.

When I put http://localhost/MyProject/ in browser, it showed up index.html but didn't get the css and javascripts.

However, if I put http://localhost/MyProject/resources/index.html in the browser, everything shows up correctly.

So, the question is how can I let the welcome page served in the url as the path given in the <welcome-file>, e.g. /resources/index.html.

If it can't be done in the <welcome-file list>, what other configurable method should I use.

I tend not to redirect to /resources/index.html by adding another html or by doing it programmatically in a Servlet controller.

You should add more tags, like 'spring', 'java'... – Vitor Braga Jul 27 '12 at 04:50 — Vitor Braga, Jul 27 '12 at 04:50

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:29

It seems you are using Spring and having problems with static content.

Try looking at this link

It explains how to proceed in this case...

Pay atention to the line:

<mvc:resources mapping="/resources/**" location="/resources/" />

It maps your resources folder (containing the css, javascript and image files) to a special handler of Spring.

Update:

In your servlet-context.xml file you can add this line

<!-- Forwards requests to the "/" resource to the "welcome" view -->
    <mvc:view-controller path="/" view-name="index"/>

<!-- Resolves view names to protected .html resources within the /WEB-INF/resources/ directory -->
    <bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
        <property name="prefix" value="/WEB-INF/resources/"/>
        <property name="suffix" value=".html"/>
    </bean>

that says that you don't have to use the 'index.jsp' properly. This way, you will map a view to the "/" access. Summarizing, this way the user enters in 'http://localhost/MyProject/' and sees your index.html and sees the effects of css and javascripts.

PS.: - This configurations only works on Spring 3+
- Prefer naming your files to '.jsp' and not '.html'... it is simpler to map.

Vitor, spring resources mapping is defined, but it doesn't solve the problem. The problem is `` doesn't copy the full path resources/index.html to the url. I get a feeling I have to use redirect. — YukunIX, Jul 27 '12 at 06:31
added spring configs as Vitor suggested, but it still didn't get .css and .js files though it displayed index.html. I think what I need is a permanent url redirect to /resources/index.html. — YukunIX, Aug 02 '12 at 04:11

How to map content properly in web.xml for a Spring application?

1 Answers1